Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff & Johnson 1980; Lakoff, 1983, 1987, 1993, 2008, 2009), the most prominent cognitive approach to metaphor comprehension, argues that the nature of interconnections within the conceptual system is inherently metaphoric-analogical and that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor reveal these cognitive interconnections. Relevance Theory (RT, Sperber & Wilson, 1986; Wilson & Sperber, 1993; Sperber & Wilson, 1995; Wilson & Sperber, 2002, 2004) and Graded Salience (GS, Giora, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003; Peleg et al., 2008; Peleg & Giora, 2011) disagree that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor can be taken as direct evidence of their cognitive representation. A metaphor consists of two concepts, a source and a target concept. The metaphor implies an analogy between the two concepts. To comprehend a metaphor is to infer under which conditions the implied analogy holds. The meaning of the two concepts is pragmatically enriched by these additional assumptions. Metaphor comprehension is an inferential process. The result of this process is the enriched meaning of the metaphor. This meaning can become conventionalised, in which case it often serves as an inferential shortcut: instead of having to consider all conceptually possible interpretations and their plausibility in the context of the analogy, speakers who are familiar with the conventional (i.e. idiomatic) meaning are provided with a default interpretation. According to CMT, the inferential process is a process of interconnecting primary embodied concepts to ever more complex higher-order concepts. On this view, a metaphoric idiomatic meaning is such a complex concept where the conceptual interconnections are conventional. According to RT, the inferential process is a process of inferring a meaning that is in line with the speaker's communicative intent, the discourse context, and interlocutors' expectations of the cognitive relevance of potential inferences. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences with a high degree of contextual relevance because speakers' expectations of relevance are conventionalised. According to GS, the inferential process consists of two modules that work in parallel: a module that infers salient meanings based on linguistic knowledge and a module that enriches the meaning by taking non-linguistic knowledge such as conceptual, experiential, perceptual, contextual, and world knowledge into consideration. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences because of speakers' knowledge of non-conceptual linguistic conventions. This thesis investigates the claims made by CMT, RT and GS by experimentally testing the cross-linguistic communicability of metaphoric proverbs with idiomatic meanings. Proverbs are selected such that the similarity of metaphors' source and target concepts, expectations of contextual relevance, and the degree of familiarity with proverbs' conventional wording is cross-linguistically maximised. If CMT is correct, then when cross-linguistic conceptual similarity is maximised in this way, monolingual native speakers should find L2 language-specific metaphors communicable. If RT and GS are correct, then monolingual native speakers should find L2-specific metaphors less communicable than L1-specific and non-language-specific metaphoric proverbs because they lack knowledge of the necessary non-conceptual linguistic conventions. Cross-linguistic metaphor communicability is measured in three ways in the experiments: (1) through reading/response times, (2) through plausibility judgements, and (3) through a context creation task. Results show that cross-linguistic metaphor communicability of L2-specific metaphors is lowered for monolingual native speakers on all three measures.

Idioms are frequently used in any language and thereby it is important to investigate how these linguistic resources are understood, acquired and mastered. More studies need to be conducted, specially in the learning of a second language. Cooper (1999) examined the processing of idioms in English by L2 learners using the Think-aloud procedure (TAP). He found that a heuristic model consists of the numerous strategies used by these speakers to find the meaning of written idioms by exploring and try to find the meaning which is less familiar to them, compared to the native speakers knowledge and holistic or integrated approach. In the currrent work, realized in Sweden, the TAP was applied to compare the responses given by learners of Spanish as a second language and native speakers about common verbal idioms. The aim is to analyze the interpretation and comprehension of non-literal or figurative meaning of these expressions. As the result indicates, the Spanish idioms were less familiar to the L2 learners, but their figurative meaning was understood in 41% of the times, and including partial associations in 76% of the attempts using the TAP. The descriptions of these L2 Spanish speakers’ group varied notoriously: amid match and partial coincidences with figurative meaning, unusual images were referred and the literal meaning was presented in a few cases as part of the figurative. The heuristic and a kind of hybrid approach to the idiomatic meaning in the oral and semantic elaborations and interpretative strategies were confirmed. However, it was relatively easier to the L2 speakers to propose lexical definitions. With a more holistic processing and descriptions of meaning, the native speakers accessed the non-literal idioms’ meaning with a complete description in 85% of the cases, and including linked information in 98%, which confirmed that regional idioms could be particularly unknown. Some difficulties to give explicit information about concrete terms by members of the group of native speakers were identified. / Las locuciones son expresiones de uso común en el habla cotidiana y por ello es importante investigar cómo son comprendidas y adquiridas, tanto en el aprendizaje de lenguas maternas como en el de segundas lenguas. Cooper (1999) examinó cómo los hablantes de inglés como segunda lengua, usando el procedimiento Pensar en Voz Alta (PVA), describen el significado de locuciones presentadas por escrito. Él identificó que un modelo heurístico de procesamiento se conforma por numerosas estrategias con las cuales estos hablantes intentan encontrar y dar respuestas acertadas acerca del significado idiomático. El PVA se usó en este estudio, realizado en Suecia, para comparar las respuestas de aprendientes de español como segunda lengua y hablantes nativos, enfocando locuciones verbales de uso común en esa lengua. El propósito fue analizar las interpretaciones y comprensión de significado no literal o figurado de las secuencias convencionales presentadas. Los resultados muestran que para los hablantes de español como segunda lengua las locuciones eran poco familiares, pero acertaron en el 41% de sus intentos al describir significados coincidentes con el sentido figurado, y en 76% con asociaciones parciales de significado. Las respuestas de estos hablantes variaron notoriamente: entre aproximación al significado convencional proporcionaron imágenes inusuales y algunos significados literales como parte del figurado, confirmando un abordaje heurístico o indagatorio y cierta aproximación híbrida al conocimiento idiomático en la L2. Sin embargo, fue relativamente más fácil para estos participantes formular definiciones léxicas. El abordaje de los hablantes nativos fue en cambio más holístico o integrador, con la descripción completa de significados del sentido figurado en 85% de casos, y en 98% con asociación de información relacionada, lo que confirma que algunas expresiones pueden ser conocidas de distinta forma en regiones diferentes. En algunos casos hubo ciertas dificultades para exponer información explícita sobre términos concretos en este grupo de hablantes nativos.

Las locuciones son expresiones de uso común en el habla cotidiana y por ello es importante investigar cómo son comprendidas y adquiridas, tanto en el aprendizaje de lenguas maternas como en el de segundas lenguas. Cooper (1999) examinó cómo los hablantes de inglés como segunda lengua, usando el procedimiento Pensar en Voz Alta (PVA), describen el significado de locuciones presentadas por escrito. Él identificó que un modelo heurístico de procesamiento se conforma por numerosas estrategias con las cuales estos hablantes intentan encontrar y dar respuestas acertadas acerca del significado idiomático. El PVA se usó en este estudio, realizado en Suecia, para comparar las respuestas de aprendientes de español como segunda lengua y hablantes nativos, enfocando locuciones verbales de uso común en esa lengua. El propósito fue analizar las interpretaciones y comprensión de significado no literal o figurado de las secuencias convencionales presentadas. Los resultados muestran que para los hablantes de español como segunda lengua las locuciones eran poco familiares, pero acertaron en el 41% de sus intentos al describir significados coincidentes con el sentido figurado, y en 76% con asociaciones parciales de significado. Las respuestas de estos hablantes variaron notoriamente: entre aproximación al significado convencional proporcionaron imágenes inusuales y algunos significados literales como parte del figurado, confirmando un abordaje heurístico o indagatorio y cierta aproximación híbrida al conocimiento idiomático en la L2. Sin embargo, fue relativamente más fácil para estos participantes formular definiciones léxicas. El abordaje de los hablantes nativos fue en cambio más holístico o integrador, con la descripción completa de significados del sentido figurado en 85% de casos, y en 98% con asociación de información relacionada, lo que confirma que algunas expresiones pueden ser conocidas de distinta forma en regiones diferentes. En algunos casos hubo ciertas dificultades para exponer información explícita sobre términos concretos en este grupo de hablantes nativos. / Idioms are frequently used in any language and thereby it is important to investigate how these linguistic resources are understood, acquired and mastered. More studies need to be conducted, specially in the learning of a second language. Cooper (1999) examined the processing of idioms in English by L2 learners using the Think-aloud procedure (TAP). He found that a heuristic model consists of the numerous strategies used by these speakers to find the meaning of written idioms by exploring and try to find the meaning which is less familiar to them, compared to the native speakers knowledge and holistic or integrated approach. In the currrent work, realized in Sweden, the TAP was applied to compare the responses given by learners of Spanish as a second language and native speakers about common verbal idioms. The aim is to analyze the interpretation and comprehension of non-literal or figurative meaning of these expressions. As the result indicates, the Spanish idioms were less familiar to the L2 learners, but their figurative meaning was understood in 41% of the times, and including partial associations in 76% of the attempts using the TAP. The descriptions of these L2 Spanish speakers’ group varied notoriously: amid match and partial coincidences with figurative meaning, unusual images were referred and the literal meaning was presented in a few cases as part of the figurative. The heuristic and a kind of hybrid approach to the idiomatic meaning in the oral and semantic elaborations and interpretative strategies were confirmed. However, it was relatively easier to the L2 speakers to propose lexical definitions. With a more holistic processing and descriptions of meaning, the native speakers accessed the non-literal idioms’ meaning with a complete description in 85% of the cases, and including linked information in 98%, which confirmed that regional idioms could be particularly unknown. Some difficulties to give explicit information about concrete terms by members of the group of native speakers were identified.